Back Up Windows 10

Before doing any major work on your system you should take a backup as it can be time consuming and expensive to fix your operating system without a decent backup.

I have written a guide (linked below) which shows you how to backup all of your partitions using a tool called Macrium Reflect. There is a free version of the tool available and the most this tutorial will cost you is time and if you don’t have one an external hard drive or a spindle of blank DVDs.

Boot Into Ubuntu Live Environment

Booting into Ubuntu on a computer with a standard BIOS is a lot simpler than UEFI based machines.

Simply reboot Windows 10 and a screen will appear with two options:

Try Ubuntu

Install Ubuntu

Choose the “Try Ubuntu” option.

Install Ubuntu

The main installation of Ubuntu is the same for BIOS and UEFI based machines.

To start the installation click on the “Install Ubuntu” icon on the desktop.

After clicking on the “Install Ubuntu” option the following screen will appear:

This is the beginning of the installation process and you can select the language which is used to help you through the process.

Choose your language and click “Continue”.

The installer has changed a little bit for Ubuntu 16.04. The pre-requisites screen has been removed as has the option to connect to a wireless network prior to installing.

The preparing to install Ubuntu screen now simply lists the option to download updates (which is only available after you have an internet connection) and the option to install third party software for playing MP3 audio and watching Flash.

If you have a decent internet connection then you might wish to install updates during the installation.

To connect to the internet click on the network icon in the top right corner and a list of wireless networks will be listed. Click on the network you wish to connect to and enter the security key when prompted.

You will need to click the back button on the “preparing to install Ubuntu” screen and then click continue again when you are back at the welcome screen.

If you have a poor internet connection then I would choose not to connect to the internet. You can update your system after it has been installed.

You can choose to install the third party tools for playing MP3 audio as part of the installation process now by checking the box or you can do it after the system has been installed.

Click “Continue”.

The “Installation Type” screen lets you decide whether you want to install Ubuntu alongside Windows or over the top.

A window will appear showing you what is going to happen to your disk. By default the Ubuntu installer will create an ext4 partition for Ubuntu and all of your personal files and a swap partition used for swapping idle processes when memory gets low.

Click “Continue”.

In order to set your clock correctly a map appears requiring you to choose your location.

Click where you live on the map or start typing it into the box provided and then click “Continue”.

Select your keyboard’s language in the left pane and then the actual physical layout in the right pane.

Alternatively click on the detect keyboard layout option and it will more than likely do it for you.

Test out the keyboard layout that you have chosen by typing into the box provided. Specifically try out symbols such as the dollar sign, pound symbol, hash tags, speech marks, slashes and other special characters as these are the keys that tend to move around on a keyboard.

Click “Continue”.

The final step is to create a default user.

Enter your name and give your computer a name.

Enter a username into the box provided and choose a password and repeat it.

Click on the “Require my password to log in” option. I don’t really recommend anyone letting their machine log in automatically unless it is a virtual machine used for test purposes.

Finally click “Continue”.

The files will now be copied to your computer.

When the process has finished you will have the options to continue test or to restart now.

Click the “Restart Now” option.

You will be asked to remove the USB drive and press enter.

Now when your computer reboots you will have options to boot into Windows 10 or Ubuntu.

Try them both out and hopefully you will have successfully installed Ubuntu alongside Windows 10.

78 Comments

Hi,After try this for several times, i've come across with your tutorial, and i can't get in the instalation type with the recognition of the windows 10 OS. Mine says "This computer dones't have any OS. What do you want to do?"I want to configure a dual boot instalation and I don't want to erase my windows 10 OS.Any help?

Using Ubuntu (From CD or USB), try to open the partition where windows is located from "File Explorer". If you find an error saying that it can´t be mounted because windows is hibernating, try to solve this windows hibernating problem and then try to install again.

Turn UEFI mode to off in your system setpFor anyone finding this in the future, this is most likely as you have a BIOS version of Windows installed but your motherboard has UEFI mode enabled. This boots into UEFI where available, so Ubuntu is only looking for UEFI OS

Hi,After try this for several times, i've come across with your tutorial, and i can't get in the instalation type with the recognition of the windows 10 OS. Mine says "This computer dones't have any OS. What do you want to do?"I want to configure a dual boot instalation and I don't want to erase my windows 10 OS.Any help?

I am not getting option to install alongside windows. I am trying to install it alongside windows10. I have shrinked my harddisk and made about 50 GB of unallocated space on my disk. Tried installing different versions of Ubuntu.. without any success.

I myself prefer to use the Windows bootloader to chainload GRUB (which resides in my Linux partition's boot sector), instead of installing GRUB to the MBR in place of the Windows bootloader. Then, I used EasyBCD to add the linux distro entry and point it to the Linux partition where my GRUB resides.

All in all, it keeps the Windows Bootloader intact in case a major Windows Update overwrites GRUB that one chose to install to the MBR.

Tried several times, but windows 10 starts over with out any option to chose for Ubuntu. Could not configure ubuntu but lost two pendrives in this operation(now they read 2.1mb used of 2.1 mb). Will not recommend to blow up more flash drives.

Hi Gary, there is no section about running efibootmgr in this blog post (that section was in your other UEFI Bios based blog not this one). I too have the same problem whereby after the install I do not get a option of which OS to choose on boot. My BIOS type is Legacy. Any ideas? Thanks.

There is no efibootmgr for a standard BIOS because efibootmgr only deals with efi. My guess is that during the installation there is a bit where you have to choose where to put the bootloader. I think that this has been selected incorrectly. Can you open up disk management in Windows 10 and send me a screenshot at everydaylinuxuser@gmail.com?

Hey Gary – thanks for this great guide, easy steps to follow. Just wondering if you found out what the issue was? I am another user experiencing the same – BIOS type is legacy and now on restart I don't get the option to choose OS, just goes straight to Win10.

To those having this problem, you probably have to change the boot order of your devices. When you first turn on your computer, it will give you the option to press either F2, F12, or some other function key to enter "Setup." From here, you can use your keyboard to change to boot order of your devices. Make sure that the USB Device (Or CD if you installed it on a CD) is the top option. When you save and exit, the Ubuntu installer should start.

The solution to the problem: Successful install but always boots into windows

1. boot from a live cd or usb 2. download and install boot-repair (instructions: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair) 3. run boot repair 4. upon completion (even if it says it encountered an error) exit the program and restart the computer 5. repeat steps 3 and 4 until the computer boots into grub.

It is not giving me the "Install Ubuntu alongside Windows" option. It does say Windows 10 is installed however. When I go to the something else, the part that I shrank says it is unusable. Not sure what to do from here.

I prepared the usb with ubuntu, then I made space for Ubuntu in the SSD, but when I restarted to go install ubuntu, everything is black, there's no VGA signal, and after a while ubuntu starts loading something, but never goes to any menu.

Hello – I wonder if you could help shed some light for me (or maybe even make a guide for my question!?!?). I want to set up my system to dual boot Windows 10 and Linux on two drives, but I want both OS to boot from the SSD I have and both OS to store files on the HDD.

I cannot get it to work. I used to have Win 7 and Mint – KDE dual boot. I updated to Win 10 and kept dual boot. I am now trying to load a different version of Linux but I am not winning!! I eventually cleaned up to win 10 only on the full disk – no spare partitions etc.! A week later I decided to have another go and have followed your guide. The test says it is 'Legacy' – not UEFI. It refuses to load from the USB though it is second in the boot order after CD/DVD – have tried your shift key trick and cancelled fast boot too. Can and have loaded trial from DVD but the partition screen in install does not see Win 10 and insists on using the whole C drive!! Load along side is not an option. Tried the 'Something Else' option but cannot get that to work. Set EXT4 and Swap partitions but that does not work and when I look at the partitions they have become 'Do not use'. Do you please have any ideas??

I have never been able to boot along side windows 98 to 7 with linux.I have always created a separate partition, or used a 2nd hard drive and installed linux to that.I can give everyone a solution that will work on any desktop pcbut will require 3 hard drives and a hard drive swap bay.…………………………………………………… First hard drive say 1 tb (as storage) installed in pc, second HDD use in a swap bay and install windows 10, swap with another HDD and install linux.There are several hot swap bays, and are cheap plus some even will allow 2 hHDD's even SSD's 120Gb are around £50 Doing it this way there shouldn't be any conflicts as you are only using 1 OS at a time.

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Win 7 laptop upgraded to Win 10. System Information says BIOS mode is Legacy. On trying to install Ubuntu, when I hit "Continue" at the 'Preparing to Install' step, I get a warning message:

I'm getting the same problem as others where I've downloaded everything correctly but when I reboot it isn't prompting the Ubuntu screen to install or try it. Can you please help? kandipierre@gmail.com if you want to email.

I'm getting the same problem as others where I've downloaded everything correctly but when I reboot it is not showing the install or try it.It prompting the Ubuntu screen and stuck there…I also turn off the fast boot..bt nothings happened..

Like some other users above this commend I have the problem where even turning off fast boot and doing everything else correctly my PC still boots on Windows 10 and is not letting me choose an operating system. My bios is legacy and I'm with laptop. If I could get any help it'll be great!!!

I have a problem to install Ubuntu like others. When I was at step to install Ubuntu alongside Windows 10, after I pressed continue , showed me one panel about how I want to separate my hard disc. After I did this, my PC never went to the next step(for the hour). And now when I try again, because previous doesn't have result, to install the Ubuntu at step <> doesn't show me the option install Ubuntu alongside Windows 10.( sorry for my English) what can i do?

Hi, thanks for your post. But I have a question: Will Ubuntu override my existing Boot Manager (Windows) and replace it with Ubuntu's Boot Manager (grub)? And if it does, how can I switch back to Windows to make Windows the default boot OS?

Thank you for the post. I cannot see the image 7/13 on my setup. It shows partitioning problem with my setup. I am a complete novice with this problem I tried reading on it on forums but could not understand much. Can anyone help me with this.

I'm a beginner. Following your instructions, I tried to install Ubuntu 16.4 alongside Windows 10 on my new notebook. Since I didn't have any USB stick at hand, I burned the ISO image to a DVD-ROM. I resized the Windows partition to half its former value, and turned fast run and hibernation off. Now, during installation, the freed space is still indicated as "unusable partition." I don't see any partition ready to be used for the Ubuntu installation! On the other hand, there are already four partitions present that belong to Windows in one way or another. Maybe that's where the problem is?

After doing back and forward, i found the best way to install dual boot as my mother board is Legacy, first using live CD, on Gparted, make partitions for windows(NTFS), and 2nd partition as Linux partition.then shutdown ubuntu live CD:1. change to my Windows cd and install windows first, but do not need format again.2. when windows all setted up. shutdown.3. Put back ubuntu Cd and install as usual and on this time i can see my all partition including windows.4. install my ubuntu 16.04 including boot loader (grub).and done dual boot.

Thanks for the guide here, it got me through to Ubuntu just great. The problem that I am having is getting back over to windows 10. When my Lenovo v570 boots up it takes me straight to Unbuntu. If I just into the boot manager using F12 I can select Ubuntu or Windows boot manager, the problem is that windows boot manager takes me back into Ubuntu. Any suggestions? Can I boot windows from Grub? Thanks for you help both in the guide and with this issue!

I've partitioned my hard drive, turned off fast boot, made sure UEFI mode is disabled, and mounted and accessed OS drive from within Ubuntu with no problems but I'm still not getting the Install alongside Windows 10 option when I try to install. I'm running a Dell Windows 10 PC upgraded from Windows 7. In Legacy "Standard" BIOS mode.

I tried to use the "Something Else" option but after creating a swap partition out of the unallocated part the rest of the unallocated part changed to "Unusable".

I have a Standard BIOS laptop and after following your instructions, get no boot menu and it boots straight to Windows. After reading all these posts I don't see an answer for my problem. Any ideas? BTW-Thanks for taking the time to create this.

I dual booted my Windows 10 HP laptop(Legacy) with Ubuntu 14.04While trying to install Ubuntu, the installer did not recognize the existing OS and hence i went ahead with #something else# option and created the partition. I made a successful installation. However I cannot find a way to boot into my windows OS. Any help on this one will be appreciated. 🙂

Have shrunk C drive by 20000MB and it show up as 19.53GN Unallocated on that disk.Linux Mint 18 Sarah Cinnamon starts to install but when it comes to using the partition, the closest line item shown is 20971MB which is labeled "unusable" and I should be seeing a "free space" to install my LM18.Iam using Windows 10.Thanks for your great tutorial!

If your newly shrunk space shows up as "unusuable" in Linux, one reason may be that you have hit the max limit of the number of primary partitions, which is 4. I used MiniTool Partition Wizard to convert one of my "primary" (you typically want to pick a non-boot, non-recovery, non-OEM primary drive; in my case this was D-drive) partitions to "logical".Like with any partitioning activity, you'd want to tread carefully and ensure you have a backup, as there is risk of data loss.https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1765275

I have followed all the steps in the tutorial, but the installer says "This computer currently has multiple operating systems on it. What would you like to do?". It gives me the option to erase the disk and install, encrypt the new Ubuntu installation for security, use LVM with the new Ubuntu installation, and manually partition the drive ("Something else"). The installer gives me these options every time, and I have even tried running it from a disc. How do I fix this? (Ubuntu 16.10)

I am running Win10 over win7 (so BIOS Legacy)and want to dual boot with Ubuntu 16.4. I've done all as described in this great tutorial. When I try and boot from either USB or DVD I keep getting stuck! A pink screen quickly changes to a black screen saying NMI softbug lockup 22s etc and I can't get anything on Google that is helpful.HELP!